How good is Tommy Hanson? We're certainly finding out pretty quick. He has now pitched 20 consecutive scoreless innings with his 6 scoreless innings on Sunday, lowering his ERA to 2.48. He pitched around a bases loaded situation in the fourth inning and an error by his defense in the fifth. He only allowed four baserunners of his own on the day while dominating the Red Sox. We may not be too far away from saying that Tommy Hanson is the ace of the Braves pitching staff.
Chipper Jones added the first run of the day on an opposite field homer in the first innings, and Garret Anderson hit one of his own in the fourth. Brian McCann barely missed a homerun right after Chipper hit his, but the ball, which was crushed, went about 6 to 8 feet foul. The Braves were unable to manufacture any runs, but thankfull they hit two homeruns which ended up being enough to win. In fact, their scoring ineptness was on full display in this game, as they went 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position.
Peter Moylan bailed out Eric O'Flaherty in the seventh after a hit and an error allowed the Red Sox to threaten. Rafael Soriano was his normal dominant self in the eighth inning, and Mike Gonzalez gave up the shutout in the ninth, but struck out Jacoby Ellsbury to end the game and preserve the win for Atlanta.